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Birthdays: 3/19

David Ross (35) -Looking at his record compared to that of Jason LaRue (below), it's hard to see why LaRue got so much more playing time than Ross.

Jason LaRue (37) -He's become kind of a villain around here since he ran his mouth a bit after the fight, but hey- the man got kicked in the head hard enough to cause a concussion- give him a break.

D.T. Cromer (41) -Ended his career with a .308 lifetime batting average, albeit in only 104 ABs. Later played for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Others:

Richie Ashburn -A puzzling figure for statheads; his defensive numbers are way better than any other center fielder's ever, and there have been several theories as to why this might be. There are two famous stories about about Richie: 1. In 1957 he hit a foul ball into the seats that broke the nose of a fan named Alice Roth. A few pitches later he hit another foul into the stands and hit Roth again as she was being carried off on a stretcher. They eventually became friends, and her son became a Phillie batboy. 2. When Richie was playing CF for the '62 Mets, he was having trouble communicating on short flies with Elio Chacon, the shortstop, who spoke no English. So Richie learned to say "Yo la tenga", Spanish for "I got it". The next time there was a shallow fly behind shortstop, Richie came steaming in, yelled "Yo la tenga"- and was bowled over by left fielder Frank Thomas. As Thomas was helping him up, he asked, "What does Yellow Tango mean"?

Bill Wambsganss -Famous, of course, for turning an unassisted triple play in the 1920 World Series. "I played 13 years in the big leagues", he later said, "and you'd have thought I was born the day before that play and died the day after".

Billy Maharg -Only two career ABs as "Billy Maharg"; he may or may not have been the same person as Billy "Peaches" Graham (Maharg is Graham spelled backwards). Shadowy figure involved up to his eyeballs in the Black Sox scandal.

Re: Birthdays: 3/19

Originally Posted by chicoruiz

Bill Wambsganss -Famous, of course, for turning an unassisted triple play in the 1920 World Series. "I played 13 years in the big leagues", he later said, "and you'd have thought I was born the day before that play and died the day after".

Not quite as impressive as an unassisted triple play in the WS... Bill had 10 letters in his last name and only two of them were vowels.

Re: Birthdays: 3/19

One theory I remember is that he played virtually his entire career on teams full of extreme fly ball pitchers (Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, etc.) causing him to make a lot of extra put outs. That can't be all of it though; lots of pitching staffs are full of fly ball pitchers. He also played in an era when a lot of corner outfielders were slow sluggers, so he probably had to catch anything in either alley.

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